Hong Kong

Yesterday‘s typhoon brought with it quite a bit of rain, meaning I couldn’t go to Ocean Park today. So I stayed indoors, did some more research and only stepped out post lunch to begin ‘day 3’ in Hong Kong.

Day 2 in Hong Kong began feeling fresh. I slept for more than 10 hours and the jet lag had nearly worn off. I repacked my bag and left the hostel to begin my photography for today.

A whole lot of luxury brands in the mall to the rightThe IKEA store was only a minute walk away from where I was stayingPlenty of malls and shopping centers all around. This was Windsor HouseI walked towards the MTR stationSOGO is a popular Japanese department store chainThis is the entrance/Exit E of Causeway Bay stationI got off at CentralTook the long walk to Exit J2 (Yup, Central is so big that the Exits are from A to J)

After a span of 9 months, and after writing about all my past travels, I had the itch to see the world again. I had to. I had nothing else to write about for this website besides the usual K-pop reviews! The past few months I contemplated where to go next. I really wanted to be in Europe for the Euro Cup and the Olympics, but with the Indian Rupee getting clobbered in value against the British Pound and the Euro, I soon let go of that dream.

I then thought about Vietnam. I would fly to Singapore as my visa is yet to expire, then take Tiger Airways to Ho Chi Minh, ride all the way up to Hanoi and fly back to Singapore. But upon researching, I realized whatever I would see in Vietnam would not have been that much more ‘new’ having already been to Thailand and Philippines. Also, the truth about Halong Bay is that it looks amazing when you get an aerial view — which is not how most tourists see it when they get there.

So then I thought about China, a country I have wanted to explore for years. Just like India, China has an ancient and much revered history. It’s also a large country, with lots to see and amazing geography. But China also has a government hell bent on restricting your freedom within its boundaries. So when I read foreigners wouldn’t be allowed to visit Tibet unless they went with a guide, I changed my mind. Taking the Lhasa express ranked highly in my list of “to-do” things in China. And the way I travel, I don’t want someone telling me I can’t go there or don’t take photographs the government doesn’t want you taking.

I initially thought of using Hong Kong as an entry point to China, but in the end I decided to just visit Hong Kong and Macau for now. After all, I got a pretty sweet deal on the flight ticket from Cleartrip. For around Rs. 27k ($505/€407), I would be flying Thai Airways via Bangkok to Hong Kong. My return journey had a 22-hour layover in Bangkok too, meaning I had a day to spend in Bangkok as well.

Hello Suvarnabhumi! Haven’t seen you since 2010 🙂It was a bit of a ‘trek’ (as always with Suvarnabhumi) but I eventually found my transfer gateMy connecting flight to Hong Kong was scheduled to leave at 8:35am